Lewisham Council is planning to introduce a number of new parking restrictions in the area, seemingly to improve sight lines and access for pedestrians and cyclists. We were sent the list by Alison, who lives on Ewhurst Road and is a little puzzled by the plans to restrict parking near Ladywell Fields, which she says will cost a few spaces for seemingly little benefit.

A quick scan of this list & they seem pretty sensible to me. Most are quite obviously not good parking spaces anyway: Ewhurst/Sevenoaks/Crofton Park Rd junction i know well - you quite often get some plonker parking right across the cycle lane access through Ewhurst/Sevenoaks - it would be great it that was enforced, & when the spots by the shops are busy, people park right up to the very junction corner, where the bollards are, making it near impossible for anyone (pedestrians/cyclists/car users) to safely negotiate the corner. The spot on Ewhurst when the entry to Ladywell Fields is, is always totally blocked by cars too - though i get the impression someone who lives there runs a mechanic type business from there (a permanently parked recovery van on the road & far more cars than the number of houses)...

They do seem sensible enough, but I cant help agreeing with the first anon that there are probably more pressing areas that they could be focussing on. These are all quiet residential streets.As for sight lines for cyclists - they might be able to see better if some of them bothered to put lights on their bikes.

This is understandably a delicate issue. There has to be a balance struck between ensuring that the areas is completely safe for pedestrians, but that can also accommodate the needs of local motorists.

I live on St. Asaph Rd, where everyone parks with 2 wheels on the pavement otherwise no one can get down the road. I drove to a friend on Upper Brockley Rd and did the same for the the same reason and I have £130 parking ticket!? I have never heard of this before why is no one ever ticketed on St. Asaph then?

Mat, we're occupying a similar rhetorical battlefield. I'd rather prams could negotiate the pavement. Don't park on the pavement, it's page one of the highway code. Park where you are allowed to park and everyone is a winner.

Feel free to poin out grammatical or spelling errors and leave the central argument untouched.

Mat, nat or woteva. We're both guessing here but he seems to have known that it's illegal to park with his wheels on the pavement. He did a quick mental calculation that the likelyhood of being caught was low based on empirical evidence that it is not something seemingly enforced with any vigour. Furthermore he seemed surprised at the size of the penalty.

1) he flipped a coin and called wrong2) he should perhaps have researched the fine so that he could have judged whether the chance in (1) was worth taking

Obvious to you maybe, why do you start out by blandly ignoring the proffered reason for the pavement parking and instead attribute to poor anon the worst of motives. It didn't seem like it was a meaningless moan about a fine.

There's a bigger picture (if only slightly so) to do with common sense and traffic flow and even application of the law.

I think we're all pretty up to speed with the reason for parking byelaws.

In some streets you can definitely park with wheels on the pavement and the pavements are marked with white lines to show it. Some I think it is nodded through. Very bad luck to get caught like that. I hope you did not actually have to pay £130 but could get away with a lesser amount as a "reward" for prompt payment.

Certainly on Manwood Road all cars park with two wheels on the pavement on both sides. Never seen anyone get a ticket, and if you were new to the street you'd just assume this was the right thing to do.

"If parking on the pavement is so illegal why do I pass by about 50 cars a day in Brockley that have done the same?"

The assumption should be that it's illegal unless you see an explicit sign saying otherwise. They would be within their rights to fine the other 50, no doubt some would then argue that would be an over zealous enforcement of the law.

It's illegal to drive o. The motorway over 70mph, you can have that advice for free. They occasionally prosecute for that even if it's on an half empty stretch at three in the morning. It reminds people that it's illegal and keeps a cap on it.